Benjamin l



BENJAMIN L. STOWE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., 'ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO J. VAN D. REED, OF SAME PLACE.

KNITTING=MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,184, dated November 20, 1888.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN L. Brown, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im- 5 provements in Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in an improvement upon the machine patented by me November 11, 1879, No. 221,628; and its main object is to produce a fabric of the same general character as that made by the machine described in said patent and as that described in- Patent No. 222,327, granted to me December 2, 1879, without the necessity of passing the kniti ting-needles between the longitudinal strands of the fabric. This I accomplish by means of devices which I term feeding-hooks, (the manner of operation and advantages of which are described in a separate application of even date herewith,) together with means for operating the knitting-needles in two or more different and independent sets, the needles of which alternate with one another, and with means for supplying knitting warp- 2 threads both on the same side of the longitudinal strands on which the needles are situated and on the opposite side. The feeding-hooks may supply all or only a portion of the needles with warp-threads from the opposite side of the longitudinal strands.

I do not purpose limiting my invention to the production of precisely the fabric mentioned, nor to use in circular machines only, for it may be used with equal advantage upon 3 5 flat machines.

The invention can best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown means for carrying it into effect.

As this invention relates only to the parts which immediately form the fabric, 1 have shown only such parts in the drawings. The means for operating them and for carrying the bobbins for the various threads are well known 5 in the art or fully described in my patent, No.

221,628, and separate application of even date herewith, and therefore require no illustration or further description here.

- In the drawings, Figure 1 is the develop 5o ment in plan of the series of knitting-needles of a circular-knitting machine, together with a corresponding series of feeding-hooks, and with the guides for laying the various warp and weft threads, the longitudinal strands being shown in section. Fig. 2 is the development, in elevation, of the same parts, the longitudinal strands being indicated in dotted lines.

In this figure, for the sake of greater clearness,

I have omitted the weft-thread represented in the left-hand portion of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 to 9, inclusive, illustrate by vertical sectional views the successive steps in the operation of forming the fabric.

The series of knittingneedles is in this instance arranged in two independent sets, the 6 needles of which alternate with one another, (indicated at a and a, respectively,) mounted and guided in a needle-cylinder of any usual and suitable form. The set of needles 0/ performs the office of the vertical needles in my 0 patent, No. 221,628, and the set a (with the aid of the feeding-hooks hereinafter described) that of the horizontal needles in said patent.

The means for actuating the two sets of needles may be cam-grooves, such as that shown in my patent, No. 221,628, or other suitable means. The longitudinal strands are indicated at 5, there being in this instance half as many strands as knitting-needles. They are supplied to the machine in the usual manner, and pass down through the needle-ring at a distance from and substantially parallel to the reciprocation of the knitting-needles, which arrangement insures them against being accidentally caught by the latter. X indicates the 8 5 feedinghooks, arranged to alternate with the longitudinal strands and situated substantially at right angles to them and to the knitting-needles. They are reciprocated radially in and out between the strands by the usual mechanismsuch as a cam-ring. The feedinghooks shown consist simply of knitting-needles with their latches removed; but other forms may be used; and I prefer them to have an inwardly-extending portion which will always remain between the longitudinal strands, as described in my said separate application of even date herewith. The knitting warpthreads are shown at 1 4 and 2 2 derived from bobbins carried in the usual manner and laid 10o by guide-eyes k, r, and 1-. The thread 1 is laid upon the inside of the longitudinal strands and carried between them and delivered to the knitting-needles a by the feeding-hooks X. The thread 4 is laid upon the outside of the strands, so as to be caught by the needles to and knit at the same time as the thread 1, and the thread 2 2, also laid upon the outside of the strands, is caught and knit by the needles a, forming stitches which alternate with and are held to the fabric by the stitches made by the needles a. 3, and is delivered by a guide-eye, 0, between the knitting needles and the longitudinal strands and upon the preceding series of k nitting-warp stitches above described.

The operation of the machine organized as above described is as follows: Referring to the left-hand portion of Fig. 1, it will be seen that the weft 3 hasjust been laid and that the feedinghooks are advancing inward. (See, also, Figs. 2 and 3.) Having entered between the strands 5 a sufficient distance, (see Fig. 4-,) they receive from the guide-eye 7c the warp-thread 1, which they draw out between the strands 5 in loops, (see Fig. 5,) which are entered from below and carried up and reto the set a. (See Fig. 6.) Before said needles descend the guide-eye 1' lays within their reach the thread 1, (see Fig. 7,) which they draw down, loop, and knit, together with the thread 1. (See the lower part of Fig. 8.) The set of needles a now receive from the guideeye 1* the threads 2 2, (see the upper portion of Fig.- 8,) which are looped and knitted in stitches alternate with those formed by the needles a, by which latter stitches they are locked to the strands 5 and Weft 3. If the loops drawn down by the needles 0. pass behind the needles (1, the fabric will be similar to that described in my patent, No. 222,327; if .in front of the needles (0, the fabric will be somewhat different. In the latter case the loops drawn down by the needles (1 must pass below the latches of needles a in order not to be caught by the latter. The weft is next laid as indicated in Fig. 9 and at the right hand of Figs. 1 and 2, and over this the needles a knit the threads 1 and 4, as already described.

In the drawings pertaining to my United States Patent N 0. 321,153, Fig. 4 illustrates a flat fabric which is knit upon a machine em- The weft-thread is indicated at ploying two sets of needles-one set horizontal, the other set vertical. To'make that fabric by my herein-described machine I would substitute for the needles in the former machine two sets of needles, neither of which would pass between the longitudinal strands, and would operate the two sets in different times, feeding one set by means of hooks with knitting-warps supplied upon the side of the longitudinal strands opposite to that upon which the needles are situated and feeding the other sct'in the usual manner.

More than two sets of needles, working at various times, may be n'sedin combination with the said hooks, and the invention is equally adapted to knitting-machines working their needles successively or all of each set simultaneously. The number of needles in the different sets need not necessarily be equal.

Spring-needles may be employed in lieu of latch-needles, and in machines employing a distinct warp-thread for each needle all of the needles may work simultaneously, a portion being fed by means of the feeding-hooks and the other portion in a usual manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isleased from the hooks by the needles belonging 1. The combination, with two or more separately-operating sets of alternatingneedles,

mechanism for reciprocating said sets alternately, and meansfor supplying knitting-warp to the opposite sides of the longitudinal strands from that on which the needles are situated, of feeding-hooks for delivering the said warp to some or all of said needles, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. The combination, with two or more separately-operating sets ofalternating needles, of feeding-hooks for delivering knitting-threads from the opposite side of the longitudinal strands to some or all of said needles, means for supplying warp-thread to said hooks, and means for supplying a second warp thread or threads to the needles upon that side of the strands upon which the needles are situated, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of July, 1885;

BENJAMIN L. STOWE. 

